Letter: Letter sadder than State of the State

Yes, the State of the State message was sad, but not as sad as the letter from a Republican supporter.

If there is a $900 million dollar budget surplus and not some financial hokus-pokus, it came from cutting wages and benefits, slashing of public health and assistance programs, gutting of pension funds and increasing taxes and regulation on small business and families.

Charter schools? A study by Michigan State University and the University of Utah found that charter schools spend $774 more per student on administration and $1,140 less on instruction than traditional public schools. Charters tend to pay lower salaries to teachers with similar credentials and experience as non-charter public school teachers, but also employ a less experienced group of educators, thus driving down instructional costs.

Capitalism? American capitalism and free enterprise today is a farce, an exclusive club funded by Corporate America and the wealthy, and protected by Republicans who receive billions in campaign funds from their rich, corporate buddies who hide behind multi-million dollar PACS with names like "Americans for Progressive Action" and "Club for Growth Action."

Talk about union thugs? How about a governor and Legislature who ram through legislation regardless of being told "no" by the voters, pass legislation that truly hurts the working families by limiting wages while protecting the corporate thugs with tax breaks and subsides that have cost the tax payers of Michigan over $1.8 billion dollars.

Republicans are only going to help themselves and don't give a damn about you or me.

Michael Riffey

Battle Creek

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Letter: Letter sadder than State of the State

Yes, the State of the State message was sad, but not as sad as the letter from a Republican supporter.